Too bad Forrest Gump has retired to the old-movie display of a video store near you.

The Broncos could use him.

Run, somebody, run!

In the past two games, Broncos tailbacks Correll Buckhalter and Knowshon Moreno have combined for 84 yards rushing on 32 carries for a 2.6-yard average.

Moreno started against the Baltimore Ravens. Buckhalter started against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

After their 6-0 start, the Broncos ranked seventh in rushing. Two games later, they rank 18th.

“There’s no shortcut to it,” Broncos coach Josh McDaniels said late Monday night after his team’s 28-10 loss to Pittsburgh. “We have to work hard at getting ourselves to run the ball better and be more effective running the football and staying out of third-and-long. That alone will allow us to stay balanced. We’ve got to get the running game going. We’ve got a lot of things to do better though; it’s not just the running game.”

Harris update.

Right tackle Ryan Harris is expected to miss his second consecutive game Sunday when the Broncos play at Washington. Harris suffered a dislocated right big toe — not two small toes as previously reported — Nov. 1 at Baltimore.

There is a chance he could return by Nov. 22 for the game against AFC West rival San Diego. But because the game against the Chargers will be followed four days later by a Thanksgiving game against the New York Giants, there is also a chance Harris might not return until Dec. 6 against Kansas City.

He has been replaced by Tyler Polumbus, a second-year player from the University of Colorado who continues to receive positive reviews.

“I thought Tyler hung in there pretty good,” McDaniels said of Polumbus’ first NFL start Monday against the Steelers.

Busy Berger.

Given Mitch Berger was unemployed the first seven weeks of this season, it might have helped had the Broncos broke him in slowly as their new punter.

He was not afforded such luxury. In the Broncos’ first six wins, Brett Kern punted 27 times, or 4 1/2 boots a game. In the Broncos’ last two losses, Berger has already made 15 punts, 7 1/2 per game.

After Berger had punts of 26 and 24 yards against the Steelers, McDaniels was asked if he was rethinking his decision to switch punters.

“We’ll take a look at the film and see if there is anything,” McDaniels said. “I know there were a couple of short punts there. I know he did good things too. Punted some directionally that we wanted directional punted. We’ll take a look at everything.”

Defense slips.

The Broncos no longer have the NFL’s best defense. They now rank third in total defense (280.3 yards per game) and third in scoring (15.5 points).

A couple of bad halves will do this to a team’s ranking. The Larry Coyer-coordinated Indianapolis Colts have the top scoring defense at 13.5 points per game.

“We have to get back to getting off the field on third down in the second half, which we did a good job of in the first six games,” Broncos cornerback Andre Goodman said.

Defense rises.

Then again, in the all-important takeaway and sack categories, the Broncos are at least two times better than their 2008 defense. By forcing Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger into a fumble and interception Monday, the Broncos have 14 takeaways in eight games. They had 13 takeaways in 16 games last year.

The Broncos also reached the halfway point with 26 sacks. They had 26 sacks all of last season.

Footnotes.

Brandon Marshall personifies the Broncos’ short passing game. He has moved up to a tie for 11th in the league with 44 catches. Yet, his 468 receiving yards rank 29th. . . . Almost overlooked Monday were the seven catches by Steelers receiver Hines Ward, giving him 849 for his career, tied with ex-Bronco Rod Smith for 15th on the all-time list.

Mike Klis was with The Denver Post from Jan. 1, 1998 before leaving in 2015 to join KUSA 9News. He covered the Rockies and Major League Baseball until the 2005 All-Star break, when he was asked to start covering the Broncos.

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